Sounds like there's a cricket in my z81

It's me, the worry wort.

This is probably nothing, but one thing that I have noticed but never really bothered asking anybody about is a strange rythmic chirping (very much like a cricket but not nearly as loud). It is always present whenever the computer is on, but changes rythym and volume when i'm doing certain things, like starting some programs up or searching for a wireless network. My first instinct was that it was the hdd, but it's ALWAYS on, even when the hdd light isn't flashing.

Just curious as to what this might be

 

could you tell us more bout your computer, londez?

not too sure but could it be the fan?
that's the only thing that will have a change of rhythm and volume, other than the hdd, i think..

[edit: whoops didnt read the whole thread name haha. anybody w a z81 to confirm?]

 

My first instinct would be to checkthe fan, like dys said. I've heard fans make noise anywhere from a cricket to an air conditioner to an airplane (we all know some are really loud). Let us know if you get anywhere on this. Perhaps you could turn the laptop off, let it sit for a while, and then boot and assess the sound after the desktop has loaded and is responsive. Possibly then stress the system (w/ video, burning, etc) and assess for sound at that point.

If I think of any other interesting ways to test I'll let you know

 

Go and buy some canned air (Air Duster from Memorex or anything similar) and blow that into your vents in small bursts. You probably have dust clogging your fans and therefore hear that noise. I do that a few times a year to keep the dust from clogging up my laptop. The dust can really mess up your laptops "cooling system" if the fans are blocked. My friends sony started to overheat and randomly reboot, because the fans were not working porperly.

 

when i put my ear up to it, it sounds kinda electronic, like the clicks a harddrive makes.

 

If its a hitachi harddrive they can click pretty loud.

 

I know what he's talking about. The cricket is something on the motherboard or your CPU.

You guys know the buzzing people talked about with their laptops and many said it was just the cpu entering its different power states and stuff like that.

Well sometimes it sounds like a cricket. My Z70Va does at times.

You can only hear it when it's dead silent and majority of the time when your notebook is in low power modes and not full power modes regardless of battery or ac power right?

I think I have this one. Mine used to sound like buzzing and it still does sometimes, but other times sounds like a cricket.

I believe this is normal.

 

can i sigh a relief for you, londez?

 

LOL dysfunctiotnal

Sometimes I get really LEARNING_ASUS-ish, which makes me sick to my stomach, but hey, I love my baby and when something's wrong I kinda get LEARNING_ASUS-ish.

Of course not as bad as him.

 

Dah, by low power mode, do u mean when I'm not really doing any cpu or gpu intensive stuff, like just surfing the web?

Also, I just noticed that you can't hear the noise when windows is booting up.

And, by the way, I do have a hitachi 5400rpm and it's dead silent.

What's LEARNING_ASUS-ish mean??? You makin fun of me boy

Oh and by the way, does anybody else's cd-rom drive sound like a single engine plane taking off??? I just noticed this with my z81 and I don't know if it's always done this. I'm not too worried about it cause my old gateway would do this, but only from time to time

 

LOL I was making fun of myself with the Learning_ASUS-ish comment, he's some kid on the forum that isn't getting banned yet. He causes a lot of trouble on here.

Anyhoo' by low power mode I mean turning everything down, not just not doing anything. Putting your CPU in dynamic switching mode, which it should be in by the default windows power modes "Portable/Laptop".

As for the cd-rom drive sounding like a plane taking off, I've answered this before. Install Nero and it comes with a program called Drivespeed that allows you to set the speed at which it spins the disc. This is great because you only want your drive at max speed when installing or transferring files from disc, not when playing music or dvds.

You can set your drivespeed to a whole bunch of predetermined/detected options to keep your cd-rom sounding like a cd-rom drive and not a plane.

 

NEW DEVELOPMENT!!!!!

I was working on some sound editing stuff for a film and noticed that i can ALSO hear the chirping through the headphones. The weird part is that I can also hear it coming from the computer with the headphones disabling the speakers.

Can any of you meddling kids solve this mystery?

 

Kids? *cough*, okay.

you can hear it coming fromt he headphone jack as well? That's strange, the chirp should be your CPU/chipset/motherboard/capacitors. If this is an audio related chirp then contact your reseller.

Cheers,
Mike

 

Ahh the old chipy noise...next time you notice it stop moving the mouse or doing anything...if it stops then just move the mouse. If moving the mouse makes it occur it's pretty normal GFX/soundcard/motherboard/display/stuff interaction that you get with computers, even desktops with the sound cranked get it to some extent but with everything jammed in so tight in a notebook it can be more pronounced.

 

Disable/mute the mic?

 

I was just in the library, running on battery power (something that I almost never do), and there was no chirping at all.

The plot thickens.

 

You wouldn't happen to have a program called Weatherbug installed do you? It plays a chirping noise whenever there is a weather update.

I suppose that does not fit with your description of a constant chirping.

 

I have not had any problems with sounds coming from my Z81sp other then the fans of course. I have noticed a strange sound coming through my headphones with the onboard sound when I am not listening to music. I mostly use my Sound blaster these days so I don't notice it when I am using my SB.

 

I have the exact same problem, I also notice that everything disapear when I'm not using my AC adapter. The AC adapter look like the cause of the problem. It doesn't look like it create the sound but cause it.

I heard the sound when everything is to mute directly from the computer. If I doesn't touch anything the sound become very regulary but if I close a window or open a program the beat become faster. From there I doesn't think it's a fan problem. I also hear another sound when I scroll with my mouse.

What I think is weird about this problem is the fact that it only happen when using the AC Adapter. If it would be some kind of interference from the AC adapter the noise would, should be regulary (which it is, but not always).

I also saw on canadasys that the z81 serie are the only one using the 135W AC adapter.

 

I know what you guys are talking about. I have a Gateway 4500 series and about a year ago I started hearing the chirping noise. 3 quick chirps followed by 3 more quick chirps folloswed by 5 quick chirps. This repeated itself about 3 times. Didn't hear it again for a couple of months. When it happens it is the same rhythm all the time. Just a little while ago it did it again 3 times with a pause of about 5 minutes in between. I have cleaned the fan and all of the dust inside. No one that has heard it can tell me what it is. It sounds like the little tin cricketts we use to snap when we were kids but not as loud.

 

its just interference

 

Yeah, if it's only happening once a month or so don't worry about it.